View full sizePortland Police BureauThese are the three children who were found Thursday morning in a shed behind a vacant home on Southeast Rhine Street.

Portland police announced Friday afternoon that they have located the mother of three children found Thursday night in a Southeast Portland shed.

They did not release her name or give any other details of who the woman is or how she was found.

Police said they would release no other information as they continue to investigate the case, but thanked people who called an emergency hot line. They said they no longer need tips.

Two girls and a boy, all under 4, were discovered a little before 9:25 a.m., when a man in the 7900 block of Southeast Rhine Street called 9-1-1 saying he heard childrens' voices from a shed behind his home.

"We still don't who they are," said Lt. Robert King, Portland Police Bureau public information officer. "We don't know if there was foul play, or they are abandoned. We hope we get more tips today."

This is the Southeast Portland property where three unidentified children were found Friday morning. Tom Hallman/The Oregonian

The shed was on the property of a vacant home. Homeless people in the
area told officers the children were abandoned there on Wednesday night
by a woman. They said they believed the woman was the childrens'
mother, police said.

Judy Baxter, a homeowner on Southeast Rhine
Street, said she had noticed strangers walking along the side of a
vacant house across the street from her home Thursday morning.

A homeless camp on the property where three unidentified children were found. Tom Hallman/The Oregonian

"We have a real homeless problem in our neighborhood so I keep an eye across the street,'' Baxter said.

She
saw a man in his 20s walk into the rear yard of the vacant house and a
red-headed woman on the property as well around 9 a.m. So Baxter called
the owner of the property, and suggested the owner call the
non-emergency police line.

Soon, several officers arrived.

Baxter
said she watched the children being led out of the shed through pouring
rain. The older children held the hands of state child welfare workers,
while a uniformed police officer carried the infant out.

The
children looked bundled up in coats and had backpacks, she added, and
were given stuffed animals by authorities who responded.

"Little did I know they had three babies in the backyard,'' Baxter said. "It was real sad when we saw the kids come out.''

The
boy, 3, is described as having short black hair, brown eyes and
weighing 28 pounds. One of the girls, 2, has long black hair and brown
eyes and weighs the same as the boy, police said. The other girl,
believed to be between 8 to 15 months old, is described as having short
black hair, brown eyes and two front, lower teeth.

Baxter,
who has called police before to move along strangers on the property
across the street from her home, said she's just glad she took some
action Thursday morning. The house across the way has been vacant for
about two or three months.

Jennifer
Estus, who lives next to the vacant property, said she heard voices
from her bathroom window in the morning but didn't hear children's
voices. She said homeless people often sleep in the driveway behind the
vacant home that borders Southeast Powell Boulevard.

Anyone with more information on the identity of the children and how they were left alone in the shed is asked to contact the DHS Child Abuse Hotline at 503 731-3100.